#1 - Doggy Bag dog food is fine for rats. People will tell you that it isn't, but do yourself a favor and look at the macronutrient breakdown and the list of ingredients. I would venture to say that I have more rats than anyone here. All of my rats eat ONLY Doggy Bag and they produce like it's going out of style.

#2 - Genetics will play a huge roll in how productive your rats are. I only select breeding stock from litters of 12 or more. I also won't breed rats that bite. I won't breed rats that chew. I won't breed rats that eat their young. You have to make rules and cull heavily in the beginning.

For whatever its worth, I have 600 females breeding full time now. If anyone here has more rats than that I will take my comment in point number one back. Also, all of my breeding stock now are Russian blue self dumbos, PEW hairless dumbos, black self dumbos, or black and white manx. I don't have any "regular" rats left. Its all about culling heavily in the beginning. I culled HARD for two years and I have exactly what I want now. If you do the same you will be pleased.